There is a thing LINE between fashionable and ridiculous, stylish and tasteless.. Every day we meet people who have crossed this LINE. My friend calls it ‘eyes cancer’. Well, I do believe that if you look at the tasteless people long and often enough, the diseases might actually get you. Fortunately, it is easy enough to avoid those pictures.

What I find truly unbearable is when the high fashion designers cross that LINE. As firstly, ridiculous and tasteless clothes hurts yours eyes and feelings anyway, whether it is on the street or on the runway. But I find it is even worth, because a bag design brought once on the stage, will follow you everywhere for at least several month, before the season ends. And secondly, it ruins my visual perfect imaginary vogue world. I open my Vogue and bAAMM, horror everywhere. Instead of liking and desiring those pieces I flip through pages in a hope to find something pleasing for the eyes….. and nothing comes, only design failures… ahhhh

So, where is this LINE, and is there any LINE at all? Till what extent are designers allowed to make fools of us? Fashion makes a bit of a fool of you anyway, as when you follow it, you become a victim of someone’s funny fantasies and sometimes even a lack of knowledge and a sense of beauty. People find a word ‘fool’ too harsh and often prefer to use a ‘clown’ words instead, but is it so much better? The most famous fashion lover ever, Anna Dello Russo admits herself, that she does have a role of a clown, as you have to wear whatever comes up and just hope for the best.

Most of the time, those dressings look at least pretty, at least they match to the Vogue and live in a harmony within photo shoots. You would wand those clothes, but of course you don’t have as it is too expensive, too pretty, a bit unpractical and way too fancy. Unfortunately, this season high end luxury fashion has crossed the LINE. Now, those pictures look just as ridiculous in Vogue as they do in live. Look at the last German Vogue shoot. There is only one positive thing about it. It proves, that I spotted all main Fall Winter’12 Trends right. Here you can find Babushka, and Overly Oversized.. additionally comes Harry Porter and couple more creepy figures, who look like druggies, but where is fashion? It is a famine of beauty. And it has only been 1 month only since a new fashion season started. I am desperate. Never I felt so unmotivated to unpack a new Vogue, to flip through runway shoots, to check those ‘favorite looks to copy’ again.

What I find even worse, is that designers feel comfortable enough to do that. Not only they make a world of fashion unattractive activity for amateurs, they seriously shake a passion for fashion of the faithful ones.

There is however still a plus side. There are still couple pretty collections in this immersive failure amount, which is easier to concentrate on and get a spotless look. I also am very excited to see which of this trends are going to be picked up and promoted by the mass suppliers like H&M, Zara or Mango. Those eventually define which trends are wearable and beloved, and which will never take a place in our wardrobes, not to mention our hearts.

To be fair, this is what homeless people look like in the Ukraine..They also have their stuff in those plastic squared bags.. :S

Even if you are not a big fashion maniac, even if name Anna Dello Russo alone doesn’t tell you much, you still would recognize her. A person who became famous couple years ago, due to her extravagant outfit, which were featured in street style blog TheSartorialist. ADR doesn’t just wear clothes from runways, she actually collects it. This is why she declares it is plus 15 in her house the whole years round, to keep her treasure in a perfect shape.

Lady GAGA of the Fashion Week, Fashion Peacock, Fashion Obsessed, Passionate Fashionista… Anna Dello Russo likes wearing clothes just as it was presented on a runway, never wears one outfit twice, changes 2 to 4 times a day during a fashion week, has a whole flat to store her clothes and owns more that 4000 pairs of shoes.

Born in Bari (Italy), in 1962 (49 years old), Anna loved fashion from her childhood, getting clothes from all possible sources, as she wanted to be fashion. This is where her famous “I don’t want to be cool, I want to be fashion” came from. Miss Dello Russo has a bachelor degree in Italian Literature and Art History. Started working at one fashion magazine, she got quickly enough to italian Vogue (where she worked for 12 years), which eventually has led to her current position, as a creative director in a Japanese Vogue. Funny enough, neither she, nor Japanese Vogue were famous, before Scott Schuman (TheSartorialist) started taking pictures of her in NY, Milan and Paris. Since then, it seems like Anna is trying to catch up all that lack of attention in the past, constantly wearing new shocking/ridiculous outfits, including cherries and melons on her had. 49 year old italian admits, that sometimes she does feel like a clown, but that’s the point.

ADR is not married, she doesn’t have kids. She has a boyfriend and a dog;her own perfume and a blog (where in fact she/her team occasionally posts some handy fashion advices). Anna has also been a good friend of Dolce and Gabbana for ages, loving the brad and startling her clothes collection from it 20 years ago.

Apart from that, Anna is a big Yoga fan, and according to her interview to the New York Times in 2010, she spends 3 hours daily for it. Same source also writes, that ADR is not receiving her clothes, she buys it herself, clearly, a woman has a lot of time and money. I also have a feeling, that she does not have so much work to do.

Many people call Anna stylish. Well, RunwayReportx disagrees! Anna is fashionable, not stylish.. and yes, there is a difference. Fashion is what designers create and present us 4 times a year, style is what we choose from that selection. Anna doesn’t choose much. She wears outfits exactly the way they were put together and showed on a runway, because it is already beautiful and ADR doesn’t see a reason to change it (which proves my point).

It is obvious, that Anna does have a sense of style, a talent to fashion, and an idea about trends. But, of course, Anna Dello Russo doesn’t wear runway outfits just because she wants to be fashion. Just like most of the human kind she wants attention and recognition, this is why she comes up with the most crazy outfits and has enough courage to go outside like this (even if feeling like a clown). After all, this one woman show has become her full time job.

MUST HAVES???

Must have of a season.. Must have this weekend.. Must have 2012..

What is a must have, who has decided it is a must, and a must for whom? Every magazine publishes its must haves every month, every second fashion blogger posts his/her musts, every brand has its must, and all fashion addicts MUST MUST MUST have it all… or do we?

No, I disagree! Must haves of this kind are just a marketing tool, created to sell new goods, or the old ones, which went through some modifications.

When a company launches a new bag, perfume, nail polish, no matter how good or average it is, it has to sell good. For reasons, like high price, unusual shape, color, or ugliness of the product, a group of marketing geniuses launches a whole program called “how to create a must have”. If you noticed, there was never a must have BMW, Rolex, or a diamond necklace. Must haves are usually affordable by everyone, but selling on a mass basis, it creative a big profit.

A company bombards celebrities with a product, makes pictures and publishes it, it negotiates articles with fashion magazines, who call a product a MUST have, they launch many commercials to influence our mind. Bloggers pick the gossip featuring a product on the web, and the fashion victims start wearing it, being further refeatured on a web. And boom, it is done, a new must have..

What a must have really used to be, before fashion industry got so about obsessed about profit, is really a set of basic things, which help to create a look, without which, you cannot imagine your wardrobe, and what everyone has/should have not because this though was put into our mind, but because it just makes sense!

Here we go, a real must have list, which is of course half individual, and half logical.

- A white, straight cut boyfriend shirt

- A basic white T-shirt, not too tights

- Black turtle neck tight to body sweater, cotton and cashmere

- Classy deep blue jeans, straight cut

- A little black dress

- Black smoking suit

- Black leather jacket

- Khaki or a beige trench

- A pencil skirt

- A black or creme silk top

- Black and beige flats or moccasins

- Rider boots in black or brown

- White converse like sportswear

- Black evening heels

- Fancy clutch and a chain middle size bag

With this list, you are pretty much a fashion forward one in any season, by picking up few seasonal hits to pump it up, you are dressed to impress.

Marc by Marc Jacobs, See by Chloe, Just Cavalli, McQ, Karl by Karl Lagerfeld, D&G… to be continued… Secondary, alternative, diffusion, budget lines. They are mostly targeting young customers, or those mid-class clientee who want some affordable luxury(?), as these lines are always offered at lower prices.

For us, young fashion addicts, with a limited budget, diffusion lines are a life saving boat. Luxury we mostly can afford. Buying McQ clothing as a substitution to a gorgeous and pricy Alexander McQueen, Marc Jabobs bag from Marc by Marc Jacobs or a cool pair of shoes from See by Chloe…

Marc by Marc Jacobs launched in 2001 is a secondary line from Marc Jacobs, which offers shoes and accessories, additional to its main one. See by Chloe was also launched in 2001 as an alternative choice to the main one, so that a customer can mix up its glamorous style with an every day basics. D&G, one of the olderst diffusion lines was presented in 1994 as a modern and urban complement to a main collection. Four years later, in 1998 Roberto Cavalli started also a secondary collection for young generation offering outstanding prints and edgy cuts. The same principle was used by Karl Lagerfeld in January 2012, when he launched his (now already famous) Karl by Karl Lagerfeld, fashion for the young. First stated as a denim line in 2006, McQ has by now devepoled a who range of clothing and accessories, for a new generation.

Here are some price comparisons, taken from one luxury online store for the SS12 Collection.

McQueenBags from 1595€ to 325€(cotton-canvas clutch)Shoes from 965€ to 315€

Just CavalliClothing from 152€ to 579€

Roberto CavalliClothing from 3105€ to 515€

Marc by Marc JacobsBags from 485€ to 65€ (grocery bag)

Marc JacobsBags from 1750€ to 395€(clutch)

D&GClothing from 1112€ to 111€

Dolce&GabbanaClothing from 7500€ to 145€ (tshirt)

Karl by karl LagerfeldClothing from 1000€ to 69€

Karl LagerfeldClothing from 1590€ to 50€ (basic tshirt)

Marc by Marc Jacobs

A cult brand of retro cool on a must-have accessories line, which includes bags, shoes and offbeat timepieces. Perfect off-duty chic with the brand’s color-pop quilted clutches and whimsical printed scarves.

SEE BY CHLOE

Hot on the heels of her sophisticated older sibling, See by Chloé was created in 2001 to give customers an alternative to the luxe main line. It has since become the hip girl’s answer to idiosyncratic cool, infusing even the simplest everyday basics with insouciant glamour. As for today, Hannah McGibbon is the creative director of the line.

JUST Cavalli

In launched in 1998 liffusion line Just Cavalli to cater for a new generation of fierce fashion lovers. Look out for daring cuts and animal prints with a distinctly flirtatious edge.

MCQ

Launched in 2006 he as younger, more renegade lower priced, denim-base ready-to-wear line for men and women. Pina Fersli is a creative director of the line, however Sarah Burton still holds her hands tight there as well.

D&G

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s diffusion line D&G launched in 1994 to worldwide acclaim. The label is meant to add a WOW effect to a normal wardrobe, with its modern take on urban style.

Karl by Karl Lagerfeld

From cult fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld comes KARL, a collection of covetable downtown classics. Each piece from the new label is imbued with the designer’s sleek attitude and fashion-forward edge.

But, there is also a very little difference between actually a second line of the label, and label’s budget line… Those are 2 different things..

How do we know, which one is actually A LINE, and which one is just a marketing tool designed to get more profit from a middle class? Are you sure that a second line of that label is worth paying? Are you sure you are buying an affordable luxury?

Karl Lagerfeld was born in Hamburg (Germany) in September 1933 (he claims 1938, however). In 2009 while giving an interview to a french television he said that in fact, he wasn’t born neither in 1933 nor in 1938.

Dropping off school way too early, he left Hamburg for good, moving to Paris with his mother. He started his career at the age of 16 (or may be 21) in a House of Pierre Balmain in1949, and the same year won his first design price for a self developed coat. While working for Balmain he also has finished a tailoring course. After 3 years he leaves his job and gets a new position as a creative director by Jean Patou. There is not much information about his life period then, the only thing known, he was good enough to be able to change to Chloe after five years and become there a creative director there in 1963 (being 30/35).

Ten years later Karl Lagerfeld was already wealthy and famous and started his own brand and first enterprise in Germany under a name “Karl Lagerfeld Impression”. By the time Mr. Lagerfeld turned 43 he knew enough about fashion to actually teach it, which he did for 4 years in the University of Arts in Vien. One of his most famous students is Jil Sander. In 1984 Karl Lagerfeld launched his first Prêt-à-Porter Collection for CHANEL House, the same year he was appointed a chief-designer of the traditional house. Jil Sander is, however, not the only one who became famous thanks to Karl, in 1990 he also discovered Claudia Schiffer, who became a main model of the CHANEL, which led to her world wide fame and success. Apart from CHANEL Herr Lagerfeld developed many additional lines for other houses and even costumes for theatre. One of the few a collections to mention: a collection for a german fashion house Quelle, a collection for US retail chain Macy’s, cooperation with H&M, Chloé collection in 2005, developing a collection for HOGAN, which was meant to be as a one time thing, but this SS12 will be already the 3rd collection created by Lagerfeld.Since 2005 he is also working on his own line, plus a new budget line KARL by Karl Lagerfeld was launched in Jan 2012.

As to his private life, he is single, even though he had a long relationship with a men, who died of aids few years ago. Lagerfeld lives in Paris and Monaco. He is a professional photographer and many of his campaigns shoots personally. Karl is known for his love to books, and has around 300.000 books in his private library. To the question of ‘what sense in life is?’ he says ‘life istself’..and continues ‘a mission of my life is to keep size 48, everything else is not important. Perhaps it sounds primitive, but you should also care about primitive things, it helps you to understand complicated things better’. (Direct Quatation:“Mein Lebensziel ist es, Größe 48 zu halten. Größe 48, alles andere ist unwichtig. Das klingt vielleicht oberflächlich, aber man muss sich um die Oberfläche